Two by two, they filed into the occupational therapy room on the seventh floor of Hudson General Hospital, the men looking uniformly squeamish and out of place, the women, as they shed their winter layers, casting furtive looks at the size and shape of each other's bellies. A lone woman arrived carrying a metal clipboard. — "Good evening!" she sa... more »id briskly. "My name is Josephine Maxwell. I'm an obstetrical nurse here at Hudson River General, where I have assisted in over two thousand births." She marched over to the blackboard and jabbed a finger at the lengthy written across it.

"Psychoprophylactic," she said, biting off each syllable. "prevention of pain through psychological and physical means." She turned to face them. "And I am here, ladies and gentlemen, to help you learn to stand up to your worst fear. Now, shall we get on with it?"« less